The Melfort Fire Department is warning it will only respond to a fire alarm in a rural area if an emergency is confirmed by a witness or owner of the building.

Fire Chief Jason Everitt says the decision will save the fire department resources and the homeowners money. Rural Melfort home and business owners are the ones responsible for the bill when fire crews attend to a false alarm.

Although it’s a change for the Melfort area, it’s not a new tactic in the province. Prince Albert Fire Department has implemented the rule for years.

Photos

More from Saskatoon.CTVNews.ca

Justice Inez Cardinal will deliver her sentence of Jaskirat Sidhu, the truck driver involved in the Humboldt Broncos bus crash, on Friday morning in Melfort.
We look back on Sidhu's four-day hearing in January ahead of that sentence.